The invention is directed to the field of telephony, and in particular to the area of Calling Number Identity (Caller ID) and the storage of and management of stored Caller ID data.
Caller ID is a feature whereby data is associated with an incoming telephone call to provide the called party some information regarding the calling party, in particular, information regarding the calling party""s telephone. The called party typically has an adjunct box, or a xe2x80x9cfeature-phonexe2x80x9d with the adjunct box functionality incorporated therein, with a liquid crystal display that provides the called party with the information as the incoming call is being received. In the United States, the Caller ID information is typically provided between the first ring signal and the second ring signal, as described in Bellcore standard GR-30-CORE, incorporated herein by reference.
Alternatively, if the called party is engaged in a first telephone call while a second telephone call is being received, the called party may receive Caller ID with Call Waiting (CID/CW, or Type II Caller ID) information during a muting period as governed by Bellcore standard GR-30-CORE, incorporated herein by reference, or alternatively according to the procedure defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,407, incorporated herein by reference. Similar standards, albeit not necessarily identical to the U.S. standards, are applicable in other countries.
An attribute of Caller ID is that it enables a called party to screen incoming calls by determining, based on the information presented, whether the called party wants to take time to engage in a conversation with the incoming caller, or to have the call go unanswered or forwarded to an answering machine. An additional advantage is that the called party can benefit from a record of the stored Caller ID data to use as a simple look-up device when returning a call to the incoming caller.
For example, the called party can scroll through the Caller ID data accumulated for a plurality of incoming calls by activating one or more keys of a telephone keypad while observing information presented on the Caller ID display. When the information that the called party is looking for appears on the display, the called party can now place a return telephone call by dialing the displayed number (by activating the corresponding keys), or in some telephones may simply press a key associated with the Caller ID display to automatically cause the displayed telephone number to be called.
The opportunity to scroll through the stored telephone numbers as part of placing an outgoing call may be habit-forming, especially for a user of a Caller ID device that enables an outgoing call to be automatically initiated upon the activation of a single key when the target telephone number is displayed. One proposed improvement to the existing technology is to make it accessible remotely, such that a user may call in to the user""s telephone to review stored Caller ID data associated with one or more incoming calls, and to subsequently initiate an outgoing call to a particular party. Such an improvement tends to increase the reliance of the user on the Caller ID device.
A problem with the reliance on the stored Caller ID data as a part of the process of placing an outgoing call is that the memory holding the Caller ID data is limited. It can thus be frustrating to a user if the user is attempting to place an outgoing call, such as a return call, to a party that has previously called the user, but the user cannot place the call in the way the user has grown accustomed to because the target party""s Caller ID information is not stored in the memory due to memory capacity limitations. There is therefore a need for an intelligent approach to managing a Caller ID memory to increase the utility of the Caller ID feature.
This need is met by a telephone or adjunct Caller ID device that adaptively stores Caller ID data based, for example, on a blocked status of the Caller ID data. In a particular example, a telephone or Caller ID device includes a memory adapted to store Caller ID data associated with an incoming call, and a processor adapted to affect storage of the Caller ID data based on an attribute of the Caller ID data, such as a blocked status of the Caller ID data.
In an alternative embodiment, a method of receiving an incoming telephone call includes the steps of receiving Caller ID data associated with the incoming telephone call, evaluating a portion of the Caller ID data, and making a storage decision based on the evaluation. The decision may be based on a blocked status of the Caller ID data. The decision may be made proximate in time to the reception of the incoming telephone call, or in response to a user input to affect Caller ID already stored. For example, the decision may be made in conjunction with other storage decisions regarding other Caller ID data in response to the same user input, such as the activation of a keypad.